Headliners have been used in numerous passenger enclosures, such as passenger vehicles, in order to attenuate sound within the vehicle and to prevent transmission of sound through the roof thereof. Conventionally, headliners were either single or multi-layered structures of a fibrous or foam material having an outside layer visible in the cabin, typically of cloth or soft material, and a backing layer of a relatively strong, reinforced paper or plastic material, which could be adhered to the roof of the cabin.
Due to economics and environmental restrictions on vehicle manufacturers, headliner manufacturers are constantly under pressures to reduce headliner weight while improving the recyclability and strength of the headliners. Wholly recyclable headliners improve the environmental compatibility of the vehicle, reduced weight headliners reduce the operating expense of the vehicle by improving the gas mileage thereof, while improved strength headliners reduce the cost of the vehicle by allowing the accessories such as dome lights, visors, mirrors and the like, to be installed directly into the headliners.
In addition to economics and environmental restrictions effecting the manufacture of headliners, vehicle customer demands with relation to noise control also significantly affect the design thereof. Vehicle manufacturers need the ability to control different frequency noises within different portions of the cabin in order to meet customer demands. Therefore, what is needed in the art is a tunable, recyclable, acoustical panel or headliner for use in automobiles and other vehicles.